Czech Troops Arrive in Hungary

Speaking at a press briefing held at Kiskorpád railway station, Brig.-Gen. Attila Takács, the commander of the unit named “Hungarian Defence Forces Task Force – South" said that the Czech soldiers are to be accommodated in Kaposvár for the duration of the exercise, and they will participate in Exercise Balaton 2015 that is scheduled to run until 15 December. The objective of the Balation 2015 exercise is to provide them with opportunities to practice – in cooperation with Hungarian troops – the logistic support tasks related to the crisis situation caused by mass migration, the brigadier-general said. He emphasized that the Czech troops are not authorized to execute border policing tasks and will not be assigned border security duties during the exercise. The brigadier-general added that the other three Visegrád Four countries – i.e. the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland – have a “strong and unanimous will" to support Hungary.

Answering a question as to whether more foreign troops are expected to participate in the exercise, Attila Takács said that other countries have opportunity to join the training event, as it is open to all European states.

The special train carrying the Czech troops left Olomouc, Moravia on Tuesday morning. Most soldiers are members of land force units stationed in Olomouc and Bechyne, and most of them have already been deployed with foreign missions. The Czech Republic is currently holding the V4 presidency and accordingly, Prague initiates the taking of joint steps in the interest of solving the migration crisis.

Photo: László Tóth